WILTSHIRE Council is looking for volunteers to spend time with young people in care and strike up lasting friendships with them.

Independent Visitors are reliable, caring adults who visit, advise and befriend the young person with whom they are matched.

Young people in care often experience disruption in their lives.

An Independent Visitor is a trusted adult from outside the system who can offer consistent, long-term help throughout the time a young person is in care and when they leave care.

These visits will occur around once every three or four weeks.

Shannon, who is now 21, met her Independent Visitor, Jacqui, when she was a 13-year-old in foster care. She said: “It was one of the best things I did”.

“She has been amazing through some really difficult times in my life and I appreciate her so much.

“I feel that we have built a great friendship we will keep forever. I know that we will stay in touch and continue to see each other because this was more than just a scheme to us in the end.

“My IV is an amazing woman and I'd recommend this scheme to other young people for sure. She really is the only person I have to confide in and is so supportive.”

Jacqui said: “This is truly one of the best things that I have ever done and I have formed a relationship for life.

“It was an incredibly rewarding adventure, which went from visiting a child to developing a close friendship with an amazing and strong young woman.

“Now that she is an adult of 21 and has left the scheme our friendship will grow and develop.

“I have learned so much from my young person and as she has got older we have become more like the best of friends.

“For anyone considering becoming an Independent Visitor and who has the time to commit to it for the next five-plus years I would say ‘definitely do it’!”

No formal qualifications are required to become an Independent Visitor.though potential volunteers must meet the specification and role description requirements for the role.

All volunteers are required to obtain clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

The council wants to hear from potential volunteers or people who know a youngster in care who might benefit from one,

For more information about Independent Volunteers, call the scheme manager Sheila Lupton on 01225 713934 or 07733 303124, or email sheila.lupton@wiltshire.gov.uk